WATCH ORDER: THINGS TO WATCH BEFORE UZUMAKI: SPIRAL INTO HORROR

Uzumaki: Spiral into Horror is one of Junji Ito's finest writings to be released as an anime on 28 September 2024. Junji Ito is known for his horrifying stories dealing with some psychological aspects, some gruesome deaths, and some crazy evil intentions. Although it's not his first anime series adapted from Manga, this is a highly anticipated big one. His level of horror is unlike any other, for some it might come out silly, but he hustles with the inner mechanisms of the brain to not only scare the viewers but also dwell deeper and ponder the possibility of such shocking incidents. 

1. Junji Ito Collection(2018)

It is one of the weirdest shows I have ever seen, there is no story per se, as the title of the anime suggests, it's a small example from Juji Ito's work, there are all short stories of maybe 10-15mins, some episodes do have multiple chapters put in it, one after the other. The stories are very creepy, and scary and the animation has perfectly portrayed the weird characters in the most chill down viewer's spine kind of way. Some stories are pretty interesting and make you wonder what was going through the writer's head while making them.

The one with the weird holes disease. "Junji Ito Collection(2018)." . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7814574/

I am not the one who likes horror, but some of the stories I did feel were pushing a little too much out of reality and it kind of felt silly, I am sure there are people out there who would enjoy such small stories filled with the eerie storyline and disturbing visuals of the acts presented by the protagonist or the antagonist. Most of the episodes do end in a cliffhanger, I am not entirely sure if the Manga has the closure to the story, but it did feel nice to know the end for some of the stories, instead of watching more of such ominous scenes.

2. Spiral (2000) - Uzumaki

The movie is mainly focused on the concept of obsession, yes the movie itself has some very freaky visuals, but all that might look fake, in the end, the most fear lies in the fact that when a mind takes hold of something and it becomes impossible to get rid of it, all because we have no control over it. This movie explains that with the obsession over spirals, there are some gory and psychologically disturbing scenes and even though it was made in the year 2000, credit has to be given for making it as impactful as it can be.

The mother in the show getting paranoid about the spiral. "Spiral(2002)-Uzumaki." . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244870/

Junji Ito is known for making such grotesque horror stories, where he goes above and beyond reality to introduce other worldly concepts to bring about a horrifying experience. The show entails not just one person, but the whole town captivated by spiral objects, so much that they themselves would want to turn into spiral objects. People in the movie start seeing snails, the spiral in their fingerprints, and even the spiral motion of the washing machine, they get so occupied with it that, they wouldn't even mind their death for the sake of this spiral.

Alright, there is the list of everything to watch before you watch the anime, hope you guys have enjoyed the read, if you did make sure to spread the word about this blog to others interested as well, cause I am only going to be bringing you guys more of what you guys just read, hopefully I have at least motivated you to give one of these movies mentioned a watch. Well, I only wish to improve your experience in entertainment. 

WATCH ORDER: THINGS TO WATCH BEFORE AGATHA ALL ALONG

Agatha All Along is a series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released on 18 September 2024. Agatha is a witch from the 1600s, she practices the dark arts, betraying the council of witches behind their backs, when the council tries to kill her, she has become more than powerful enough to kill them herself, and she goes on in this path of dark arts and would be in search of chaos magic, she finally meets Wanda who after all the trauma and sadness she had to face, synthesis the chaos magic in herself. This amazing battle between the two witches is worth watching.

1.  Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

This movie is the introduction to Wanda Maximoff, who is the reason why Agatha was introduced into the MCU in the first place, hence it's important to know a little bit of a back story about her. Wanda also know as the Scarlet Witch is an enhanced individuals who has telekinetic and telepathic abilities, along with her brother Quick silver are products of Hydra experiments. Both of them though they mean well are on the wrong side of the battle, which makes the viewers. Once they realise what Ultron is actually upton they they turn towards the good guys and finally help them defeating Ultron.

Wanda and Quicksilver saving the citizens of Sokovia. "Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)". IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/mediaindex/

This movie runs thick since it is set in Sokovia a place where there is a lot of political tension, along with tension amongst the Avengers which makes it much more dramaful. Another important character who runs in the movie is Vision, who is more important as the next movies include a deeper dive into each of their characters. Wanda in this movie is shown as a little bit of a badass superhero who can manipulate anyone at her will and shows her immense willpower throughout the movie as she had to put up with a lot of things including childhood trauma and the fact that she was the reason for the death of a lot of people just because she decided to side Ultron first.

2. Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Wanda plays a pivotal role in this movie, she is the reason the whole reason the Avengers go against each other. The Avengers being a group of enhanced individuals, causes them to use that ability a bit too lightly and while they are doing good as a whole, in the process they also cause some causalities that they seem to oversee, this causes the government officials force some restrictions on the Avengers, to which only half of the members will be willing to sign, which causes the whole dispute, Wanda being the main reason this is being put into effect, we get to see how strong she is, the one who can shake up the whole of avengers.

Wanda sided with Captain America against Tony and the Accords. "Captain America: Civil War (2016)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America:_Civil_War/Gallery 

After all that happened in the movie Age of Ultron, we see a little bit of Wanda having a tragic back story and we also see Quick silvers death which has already affected Wanda so much along with the fact that she is the reason Ultron was able to cause soo much chaos after all this whole thing with Sokovia accords just causes her to think that she is maybe some sort of a monster, not only that even some of the Avengers including Vision start to believe that other should be protected from her powers. All in all this movie gives a more deeper look into Wanda and all the problems she is dealing with for her to act this way.

3. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

This movie starts off with the whole Avengers being split up after the Civil war and as a product of that Wanda and Vision would have left the life of fighting crime and villains, and they would have adapted the life of a common man, living peaceful. Not long after that, they realize that Thanos is after the 6 infinity stones, and one is on Vision's head. Wanda although tries to protect Vision, Thanos is inevitable. Vision deals with major blows from Thanos's henchmen. He decides that the stone should be broken which means that Thanos would never be able to collect all the 6 infinity stones. Wanda and the other Avengers unable to lose their comrade decide to take him to Wakanda to fix him.

Wanda protects Vision from the evil Thanos and his henchmen. "Avengers: Infinity War (2018)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers:_Infinity_War/Gallery?file=Infinity_War_155.jpg

After their arrival they meet Shuri (Black Panther's sister), she comes up with a plan in literally 2 seconds, she realizes that his neural network can be separated from the stone's neural network which is a very tedious, time consuming task, and requires maximum precision. Whilst they decide to resolve the Vision issue, Thanos's army is already on the doorstep, waiting kill the Avengers and take the stone, making sure that no one stands in their way. In the end, Wanda is forced to break the stone with her powers with much sadness and regret. This makes another horrific story in her life, where she had to kill her lover without giving a second thought.

4. Avengers: Endgame(2019)

By far the best movie I have watched in a while, this movie is a culmination of 21 movies before it, and it was a blast. Thanos has created so many problems and the Avengers decide to come together and get everyone they lost back, and for Wanda, she loses her lover Vision, even though Vision is synthetically made Wanda and Vision would have made a real connection between each other. Even though Wanda knows that she can't bring back Vision, she still fights with her team to save the universe and bring back all her friends that she has lost.

Wanda's rage against Thanos in the final battle"Avengers: Endgame  (2019)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame/Gallery?file=Scarlet_Witch_%28Endgame%29.jpg

The powers of the mind stone technically make Wanda she is expected to be strong, mixed with the anger when she sees Thanos in the flesh again, she almost kills him all alone, until Thanos has to use some of the guns in his ship to fire at her risking his army while doing so, he was ready to lose some of his army for the sake of making sure that he doesn't get killed by her. In the end, Wanda is seen to have found her closure about Vision and she finally feels that, even though Vision is not with them anymore he knows that they won that fight against Thanos, which would have made Vision happy.

5. WandaVision (2021)

Post Endgame Wanda is sad about Vision's death, she has to face multiple deaths and so much trauma, that she unlocks and unleashes Chaos magic over Westview (a small town) and converts it into a Sitcom. Agatha Harkness a witch in the 1600s, gives in to the Dark arts and kills her kind, she witnesses this "beauty", and comes to Westview to unlock this magic herself. To do so she shows how dark Scarlet Witch (Wanda) is based on a book called The "Darkhold". 

Agatha keeping Wanda's sons as hostage "WandaVision (2021)".Marvelcinematicuniversefandom,https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Previously_On/Gallery?file=Agatha_Harkness_choking_the_kids.png

Agatha would have been secretly in control of the whole town herself, manipulating people and Wanda as she wanted it to, she depicts how powerful she is by bringing out the worst in Wanda, by making her relive the trauma she had to face, thus making her super vulnerable. The scarlet witch knows how to turn the tide and show exactly how smart and powerful she is. Wanda would have created vision by compiling the piece of mind stone in herself, which is already a great feat. After all this Wanda locks Agatha in a rune, which is her creation, and traps her, it would be really interesting to see how the new series "Agatha All Along" pans out from here.

Alright, there is the list of everything to watch before you play the series, hope you guys have enjoyed the read, if you did make sure to spread the word about this blog to others interested as well, cause I am only going to be bringing you guys more of what you guys just read, hopefully I have at least motivated you to give one of these movies mentioned a watch. Well, I only wish to improve your experience in entertainment. 

WATCH ORDER: THINGS TO WATCH BEFORE ALIEN: ROMULUS

Alien: Romulus is one of the movies in the Alien saga, released on 23rd August 2024. Alien is a whole saga movie that started in the late 1900s and was one of the first movies to take you to space and speak about otherworldly creatures that sparked the imagination of many people all over the world. You would be surprised as to how even the oldest movie looked so realistic when compared with recent advancements in VFX. The saga deals with this mysterious powerful alien species that has close to zero weakness, a crew has to face it amongst the stars and the void that is space itself, which makes the viewers watch at the edge of their seats.

 1. Alien (1979)

It's the first movie in the saga, the movie starts with a ship crew getting up from slumber halfway through returning to Earth, woken up by the ship's AI, only to realize that they were woken up because of an SOS call in a nearby planet, upon landing, they encounter multiple problems which leads them to eventually get a baby alien on to the ship accidentally. Things only go wrong from here. Watching this in 2024, one must appreciate the amount of production that has gone into this movie made in 1979. It's not a prolonged movie and is pretty much action-packed, there is no screen time for sulking and buffer time for emotions when something bad happens which is what makes this movie interesting.

Ripley vs Alien. "Alien (1979)." . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/mediaindex/ 

It must have been the most gruesome movie at that time, not being much of a horror enthusiast I didn't feel that scared. The movie was horrifying indeed and did keep me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The movie captures the essence of an alien invasion on a flying ship perfectly, the movie makes sure you are engaged until the end of the movie, with a couple of unexpected twists and some of the vilest deaths, not to mention the gooeyness and the unknown nature of the alien, which made me flinch. An invincible alien against a group of 7 humans with limited resources, who do you think will win? Watch to find out.

2. Aliens (1986)

This movie starts where the first movie ended, Ripley the sole survivor rescued by her employer's ship after 57 years, losing her child as well due to old age, upon investigation her employers share that on the same planet where she was stuck now there is a terraforming colony which recently has gone silent, to investigate this, Ripley and a crew of marine go back to the planet. On investigation, they find a sole surviving child named Newt and a whole hive of aliens in the terraforming colony. Now one would wonder that Ripley along with a group of soldiers couldn't be more prepared, but you are wrong, the aliens are found to be more and more persisting than ever.

Ripley and Newt start to bond with each other. "Aliens (1986)."  . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/mediaindex/

This movie continues to hold that thrill of finding out what happens next, it takes a less load of scary as now you are familiarized with what the aliens can do, and the movie still doesn't stop to surprise you all the way through till the end. There is a touch of wholesomeness in the whole movie which gives a moment of breathing from all the goriness. This movie gives the viewers an idea of how the colonization of this alien invasion can take over an entire colony within seconds. There is struggle literally till the last minute of the movie, which feels like a never-ending trauma for the protagonists and the rest of the survivors, the final standoff was very dandy, and the saga starts to grow on you at this point.

3. Alien 3 (1992)

This movie was a little off track and honestly, this was a little too prolonged, somehow again the shuttle from the previous movie gets destroyed and they land on a planet with a prison, yes you guessed it only Ripley being the sole survivor, the directors must really like her. Well somehow there is a new species of the alien which has now infected a bison from the ship and now has successfully infiltrated the prison as well. The whole prison was made in order to keep the prisoners from using weapons and hence they are now weaponless and against a new unknown species of the alien.

Ripley and the prisoners witnessing cremation "Alien3 (1992)." . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103644/mediaindex/

There are a lot of slurs in this movie, since we are viewing a bunch of thieves, murderers and rapists fighting against an alien, even though weaponless, they do figure out some ideas and methods to trap the alien somehow until a rescue team comes and rescues them. There are a couple of twists in the middle, but at this point, there is no longer horror or scary, its just a bunch of horrifying deaths you wished you'd never seen. Surprisingly (In a sarcastic tone) Ripley is actually special soo much that the company is ready to send a rescue her. To realize what makes her special and how she fits in the whole saga, it makes an important movie.

4. Alien Resurrection (1997)

Man they wouldn't let go of Ripley, this movie is set 200 years after the previous movie, where the scientists have cloned Ripley as a sort of half-human, half-alien, so that she can be the host to the mother alien, clearly all the scientists were out of their minds and were psychotic. Them being so intelligent to call themselves scientists and they thought this was a good idea. Obviously this group of scientists were doing their experiments at the table and had genuinely created some of the vilest creatures one can ever imagine, the only horrifying part of this movie was that they never felt bad about creating it, even in their last moments as they die in the hands of the alien, the alien appeared to them as beautiful.

Clone Ripley getting tested by the scientists. "Alien Resurrection (1997)."  . IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118583/mediaindex/

The scientists also go as far as to smuggle in some expendable humans from a group of thugs in a sort of illegal black market sort of business. Well, I was surprised that they were able to clone Ripley from a single drop of blood, but they had progressed more than that to be able to give birth to 12 of those aliens. You got to give them the credit making one of best space adventure/thriller movies during the 1900s. This movie has got more robots, aliens, and other creatures, and this being the sequel to Alien3 is a must-watch.

5. Prometheus (2012)

This movie is a prequel to the whole alien universe, It starts with a couple finding a set of cave paintings, which depicted a being that people worshiped, they called him the "Engineers", the couple believed they were the makers of humans, them along with a crew on the ship called Prometheus, their inquisitiveness causes them to find the monolith which hosted the Engineers, as they go inside and explore, although they find what they came for they also find some other organisms which they wished they hadn't found.

 Dr. Shaw and her crew explore the Engineer's cave. "Prometheus (2012)."  IMDb,https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/mediaindex/ 

Dr. Shaw is the protagonist of the movie, she is a scientist her curiousness gets her into all kinds of trouble, she struggles until the end to find the answer, although during her troubles there is an android who helps her always named David. This movie is a little slow and kind of random, felt a little out of place, but the reason to watch this movie is because this explains the birth of the alien species and how it came about, who is the actual reason for this? They show a glimpse of the first alien species that came about. 

6. Alien: Covenant (2017)

This movie is the direct sequel to Prometheus, Covenant is another ship hosting about 2000 colonists who were being taken care of by another android called Walter. They end up hearing a human voice on a nearby planet on their way to a habitable planet. As they go reach out to that planet they realize that their little exploration has cost them 3 crewmates by the early alien species, they finally meet David the android in Prometheus, who fills them up with what has happened and how the alien species is that dangerous.

The Covenant crew. "Alien: Covenant (2017)."  . IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2316204/mediaindex/

Not long after consecutive attacks from the alien, the mother ship releases a lander vehicle to pick up the leftover crew along with the protagonist of the movie Daniels, which is where there is a twist and the movie teaches us that there is no one to be trusted, the whole movie ends in a cliffhanger, the movie itself feels very repetitive like the Prometheus, and it felt it was more eerie than the previous one, the ending explains how it all connects to the alien evolving as well as shows who is reason the alien species continues to survive and thrive. Which is quite the thriller, it will be cool to know how this connects to Romulus.

Alright, there is the list of everything to watch before the new movie releases, hope you guys have enjoyed the read, if you did make sure to spread the word about this blog to others interested as well, cause I am only going to be bringing you guys more of what you guys just read, hopefully I have at least motivated you to give one of these movies mentioned a watch. Well, I only wish to improve your experience in entertainment.